In
Preparing for a Healthy Birth ‘old natural’ is the phrase used to describe the
way ‘natural’ has been approached over the last few decades. Occasionally, it’s
resulted in a beautiful birth, but most of the time it’s resulted in huge
amounts of disappointment and feelings of failure. Often plans for a water birth
have been ditched and the woman’s been rushed in for a caesarean. Or she may
have ended up with a highly managed birth, with plenty of interventions and pain
relief, for all the wrong reasons. At the end of most ‘old natural’ births the
new mum has felt disillusioned, disappointed, angry, even guilty—all feelings
she could well do without. In
Preparing for a Healthy Birth the centuries-old art of giving birth is
described in detail. It's a very straightforward approach to birth which has
already been experienced by many women. A normal birth isn’t like an ‘old natural’
birth. It’s basically much more straightforward... In a way it means giving
birth like a cavewoman, using all our knowledge of what makes birth safe, with
ready access to life-saving intervention in case it’s needed. In a normal
birth no pain relief or intervention is used, unless absolutely necessary,
because both pain relief and unnecessary interventions are likely to disturb the
normal processes and increase the level of risk to both mother and your baby.
This means no induction, electronic fetal monitoring, TENS, gas and air,
pethidine or epidurals. It means no complementary therapies such as shiatsu,
acupuncture and homeopathy—precisely because they can be so incredibly powerful.
In a nutshell, a normal birth involves an ultra-natural approach, backed-up by
all the best our society has to offer. Unlike ‘old natural’, which didn’t
facilitate the normal, natural processes, a normal birth really is possible for most
women, as long as a few basic principles are respected.
Believe it or not, there are good reasons to experience pain:
- It makes labours smoother and easier. Also, since none of the
naturally-occurring processes are disturbed, they all proceed much more
smoothly. When women have an epidural, there are very good medical reasons why
it’s essential to use a blood pressure gauge, an intravenous drip, a urinary
catheter and anti-embolism stockings for the legs, not to mention an electronic
fetal monitor, a fetal scalp monitor and all kinds of other paraphernalia. No
pain relief means a smoother, faster, simpler labour and birth.
- You experience less pain overall. The sensations we experience while we’re
having contractions make us spontaneously adopt optimal positions for labour and
birth, which means a minimum of pain and injury, since we instinctively avoid
increasing our own pain. Women who labour without drugs so often report having
no tears, or only very minor ones which heal without stitches. Also, our bodies
naturally produce endorphins to help us get through the difficult moments and to
leave us feeling wonderful after the birth. Finally, since normal birth means
that natural hormone production is not disturbed in any way, breastfeeding
almost always starts spontaneously (and easily) straight after the birth. That
all adds up to far less physical and emotional postnatal pain!
- It’s better for your relationship with your new baby. Needless to say, if you
and your baby are both alert at the moment of birth and in the hour or so
afterwards, you’re much more likely to ‘bond’ quickly and easily. If
breastfeeding goes smoothly, that’s also bound to mean a smoother, easier
mother-baby relationship, isn’t it?
As you’ll see, if you read
Preparing for a Healthy Birth doing without pain relief is actually a better strategy all round
for you, your baby and also by extension for your partner and your entire family
in both the short and the longer term.
Here are a few comments from real-live women who know…
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Pardon?! What is healthy birth again?
A healthy birth is the kind of birth which takes place in a healthy body, without any drugs or
interventions, but with expert back-up, in case it’s needed. In a nutshell,
'healthy' means following our bodies' spontaneous processes.
Why ‘normal’?
As you probably know, many, many terms have been used for
birth over the last few decades! 'Healthy' is a word we can use to refer to the vast majority of women.
How is a healthy birth better?
In a healthy birth the focus is on helping the woman's
body to do its work efficiently and therefore safely. Both experts and women
have actually discovered quite a lot about how to do this over the last few
years… Although no so-called 'pain-relief' is used in a healthy birth, women who
have one typically experience far less pain than women who go for epidurals,
pethidine, diamorphine, gas and air or any of the other drug-based approaches.
This is simply because in a healthy birth the body's processes are not disturbed
(so they proceed more smoothly), the baby inside is not forced to emerge under
the influence of drugs (which might well make it more difficult for him or her
to breathe on emergence) and the woman maintains complete alertness, which means
she moves, pushes or stops in full awareness of what's going on in her body -
which in turn means she usually does herself far less damage, or even none at
all. Obviously, this has far-reaching advantages in terms of avoiding
incontinence or sexual problems in later life. For the baby an undrugged birth is far
better because he or she suffers none of the ill effects of those drugs - which might
not only affect his breathing, but also his ability to breastfeed and his
ability to see his new mum and dad, which also has an impact on bonding.
Who says?!
Countless women, men, children and professionals say so!
Over 200 contributors to the Fresh Heart books speak about their personal
experiences of healthy birth. People who've experienced it very often tend to get
quite evangelical, simply because they become acutely aware of what some other
women, men and babies are missing out on.
Is it really safe to go without full medical management?
Having a healthy birth doesn’t mean going without medical
support. It simply means avoiding any unnecessary interventions!
Why try to keep birth healthy?
Research has repeatedly shown that healthy, unmedicated birth is safest
for both mother and baby. A healthy, undisturbed birth also results in a much better overall
experience. If the physiological processes take place smoothly, a newborn is
completely alert and able to breastfeed and relate properly to the people around
him or her. The mother also feels alert and is able to respond to her new baby.
All the hormones she needs in order to do what new mothers have to do are
produced efficiently, because the spontaneous physical processes have not been
disturbed. Most women experience a high level of peace, even exhilaration after
a normal, healthy birth and can easily resume daily activities within minutes of having
given birth. Sex is usually easier too because the woman’s heightened perception
during the birth means she doesn’t allow any damage to occur to her sexual
organs. This also means the likelihood of less pain after the birth, because the
risk of tearing and bruising is lower. Finally, the mother’s experience of
breastfeeding is likely to be much better because many drugs used for pain
relief weaken a baby’s suck. With a normal suck, a newborn can easily get the
colostrum and milk he or she so badly needs, without hurting the mother. So
normal, healthy birth means a less painful experience for the woman overall, both
physically and psychologically, fewer health risks and a better deal for the
baby.
But what about the PAIN?!!!
Some comments from Sylvie Donna...
I well remember my apprehension… er, fear … before my
first labour. The prospect of unpredictable, uncontrollable pain was incredibly
frightening. I know from what other women have told me that this pain prompts
many women to go for maximum pain relief or even a caesarean. However, I
personally felt I somehow had to get through a normal, unmedicated labour and birth for the
sake of the baby. On both a rational and an intuitive level I knew that any kind
of pain relief might affect him or her. Since then, I’ve discovered it was also
very much to my own advantage to go without pain relief.
How much do you really know about the normal, healthy
physiological processes of birth? How well can you predict how you’ll feel? And
most importantly… how can you prepare so you’re in the best possible situation
when you go into labour?
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"At this time I didn’t feel as though I had given birth (4 hours from waters breaking to birth and no pain at all); I also didn’t feel as though he was my baby, there was no bond at all."